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Article that provides statistics on tablet prevalence in university students. Explains the difference between mobile and tablets. Briefly suggests uses for tablets in higher ed.

Article that explains how an instructor is "Crowd-sourcing" the evaluation of his course. Students determine what grade level they are aiming for based on criteria and then having the other students in the course determining if the work is satisfactory or not. If all work completed is satisfactory, the student will receive the grade in the grade level they chose.

This is a short piece written in the Wall Street Journal by Ken Bain to accompany the release of his new book - What the Best College Students Do.

"Change will happen, though it is likely to be slower than government or some media observers might prefer. Apart from internal consultations, we all need to listen carefully to the most important constituency here: students. It is not clear, for example, that there exists a big appetite for three-year degrees among Canadian students. If anything, the pattern of recent graduates seeking second credentials (master's degrees or college diplomas in an applied field) demonstrates that current employers are requiring more, not less, education."

"How to create an account:"

This is a good and realistic look at the experience of an instructor who has flipped their class. Not all negative, but here is some realism: "The problem, I soon discovered, was that nobody told the students they were supposed to hate lectures. They were genuinely disoriented when I didn't spend class time lecturing. Only about 25 percent of them watched the prerecorded lectures before class. As a result, class discussion of content became an exercise in futility. Their comments at the end of the semester made it clear that about two-thirds of them preferred a typical lecture class."

"Students are going to use mobile devices and computers in the classroom, regardless of the professor's level of comfort with technology. It's best to embrace the technology and work with your educational technologist or instructional designer to determine the best tools and methodologies to enhance your course with technology and support the course objectives."

This article, by Todd Zakrajsek, offers some great tips for teaching large classes.

"The most effective teachers vary their styles depending on the nature of the subject matter, the phase of the course, and other factors. By so doing, they encourage and inspire students to do their best at all times throughout the semester. It is helpful to think of teaching styles according to the three Ds: Directing, Discussing, and Delegating."

This is one of the main reasons that I have a blog, which includes my reflections, information about what I've been working on, my CV, etc.

"Missouri State University (MSU) has implemented a flipped classroom model for its Introductory Psychology course, resulting in dramatic improvements in student learning outcomes and course completion rates."

"With the large lecture format, said NMC Senior Communications Director Samantha Becker, "it's really hard to personalize the material so that a student can feel like they have ownership over their own learning process." And, she added, "It's hard to speak up. There's always the fear of being ostracized by other students or feeling like asking stupid questions." Maurice Matiz, executive director of Columbia University's (NY) Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, agreed: "Sitting in one of these 180-student classrooms is a very passive situation," he said. "We've found that students aren't really learning very much." Matiz and his colleagues are out to change that - by finding ways to adopt the flipped classroom model to traditional large lecture courses. "

"Most student "complaints" about flipped learning conceal important questions about teaching and learning that are brought to the surface because of the flipped environment. Here are three common issues raised by students and the conversation-starters they afford."

n some educational settings, the cost of textbooks approaches or even exceeds the cost of tuition. Given limited resources, it is important to better understand the impacts of free open educational resources (OER) on student outcomes. Utilizing digital resources such as OER can substantially reduce costs for students. The purpose of this study was to analyze whether the adoption of no-cost open digital textbooks significantly predicted students' completion of courses, class achievement, and enrollment intensity during and after semesters in which OER were used. This study utilized a quantitative quasi-experimental design with propensity-score matched groups to examine differences in outcomes between students that used OER and those who did not. The demographics of the initial sample of 16,727 included 4909 students in the treatment condition with a pool of 11,818 in the control condition. There were statistically significant differences between groups, with most favoring students utilizing OER.

"Rubrics offer an effective way to guide thinking and learning in any writing-intensive course."

Concise look at writing learning outcomes based on Blooms Taxonomy.